Humans

Health & Medicine

Women of childbearing age still aren’t getting enough folic acid

To head off a risk of neural tube defects, a class of potentially devastating birth defects, women of childbearing age are supposed to get at least 400 micrograms of folic acid daily. A government study now finds that the vast majority of these women fall short. It finds that the national average for women in this age group is some 40 percent below the recommended minimum.

Physics

Inventing the Light Fantastic

The history of the laser: An idea that began with Albert Einstein inspired a race to create a special beam of light that has since infiltrated numerous aspects of everyday life.

Health & Medicine

Data from many drug trials for stroke go unpublished

Important details from roughly one in five drug trials for the acute treatment of the most common type of stroke have never entered the public domain, a new study finds. The masked data come from 125 trials that tested effects of 89 different drugs.

Psychology

Dream a little dream of recall

As the sleeping brain builds memories it generates dreams about recently learned material, a new study suggests.

Humans

Wha’dja say?

Casual speakers drop syllables and even whole words, eavesdropping scientists report.

Agriculture

Rural ozone can be fed by feed (as in silage)

Livestock operations take a lot of flak for polluting. Researchers are now linking ozone to livestock, at least in one of the nation's most agriculturally intense centers. And here the pollution source is not what comes out the back end of an animal but what’s destined to go in the front.

Earth

Studies aim to resolve confusion over mercury risks from fish

Several new papers suggest strategies by which American diners can negotiate a mercury minefield to tap dietary benefits in fish.

Health & Medicine

Marker protein may help breast cancer screening

High amounts of EGFR can show up in the blood as much as 17 months before disease is diagnosed, a study finds.

Health & Medicine

IOM: Manufacturers should help Americans cut back on salt

Americans have developed an unhealthy love affair with this savory condiment. And 40 years of haranguing people about their overconsumption has “generally failed to make a dent in Americans’ intake,” according to the Institute of Medicine, a research arm of the National Academy of Sciences. A new report it releases April 21 will ask the Food and Drug Administration to set lower ceilings on how much salt can be added to processed foods.

Anthropology

Lice hang ancient date on first clothes

Genetic analysis puts garment origin at 190,000 years ago.

Health & Medicine

Colorectal cancer risk linked to stomach bacterium, inflammation

Stomach infection and high levels of inflammatory proteins are more common in people with colon polyps or disease, two studies show.

Chemistry

From movies you’ll love to drugs you’ll take

A new method picks out promising drug compounds by computer, in much the same way Netflix recommends DVDs to its customers.